Finding Forest Materials

It took Eero a little while until he got to the forge. He had just too many things to carry and no more spare limbs for them. He stopped a few times, trying to readjust the way he was holding the items several times, but really to no avail. Eventually, he resorted to dropping the branch and some other items and taking them ahead. Then he walked back and took the remaining items and took them a little further. Rinse and repeat. It was quite exhausting, but he managed to get the items into the forge. Leona was already there. Technically not already, since it took Eero forever to get there. The boy half-carried and half-dragged the items into the forge area.

The forge itself was already going. It seemed that Leona wasted no time in creating her weapon and Eero had to pick up the pace himself. The boy set down the items on of the metal tables and looked around for a container long enough for the staff. It had to be fairly long, seeing as the staff would be longer than Eero was tall. He found a couple of vertical tubs, but those were for quenching metal during the smithing process, so he would rather avoid using those. They weren't tall enough, anyway. After a bit of rummaging through some metal components, Eero came across a rather long-looking, narrow metal container without a lid. "This'll do." He would mumble to himself and carry it back to the table he had his items set up at. The heat from the forge was steadily raising te temperature, making Eero take off his dirty jacket. Not that his t-shirt was any better, really. The boy would run a hand across his forehead and yawn. He decided that he would leave his guildmate to her own weapon creation, unless she called out for his help.

Near the table Eero had chosen, there was a bunch of tools on the wall. Among them, he spotted a knife, that looked suitable for the task he had in mind. The boy would reach for the knife, taking it off the wall. He briefly inspected it and set it down on the table. The table was a mess, but Eero couldn't be bothered to make it more organised. The boy would swiftly take out the vine out of his bag and cut it into smaller pieces. /"No mistakes allowed."/ He thought as he placed the pieces into the mortar. The vine didn't have any odor to it. Not until Eero started mashing it down with the pestle. Then it smelled pretty bad. The smell was subtle, but extremely uncomfortable and disgusting. Eero tried to hold his breath during the process, though ultimately he just had to endure it. When the boy thought that the vine was mashed enough, he opened the bottle-jug container that was filled with the distilled water. He would then put the mashed vine into it, give it a little stir with the pestle and close it back up. Eero figured that the water would be infused with the vine more or better if he let it sit for a bit, while he took care of the staff itself. The boy would then take the knife into his right hand and sit down on the floor. It was about time he started carving the branch into some staff-like shape. With a little sigh he grabbed the branch and started shaving off the outer bark, slowly revealing the dark wood that was below it.

The vine was in the distilled water, doing its thing while colouring the water a very dark teal. The boy was sitting cross-legged on the floor, as he shaved off the unneccessary bark off of the branch. Soon enough he uncovered the dark wood underneath. It had subtle purple veins going through it. It looked strangely beautiful, when Eero didn't think about where he got it from. It took him some time to shave off all of the bark that surrounded the wood he desired. The ends of the branch still needed some touch-ups, though. One end was the natural end of the branch, the other was the one that was singed. That was the side that was most definitely attached to the tree itself. Eero felt quite bad and guilty about the way his other self acquired the branch, but there was nothing he could really do about it.

The ends of the branch didn't go down without a fight, but Eero managed to cut them off. The boy would then stand up, as a ton of wood and bark shavings fell off of his jeans, onto the floor. He dusted off the rest of the shavings off of his jeans and set down the knife and the polished branch. Nearby he spotted a broom, so he promptly walked over, grabbed it and sweeped all of the trash on the floor onto one pile to the side. He set the brrom against the table, since he would need it in a little bit again. Eero lifted the staff-looking branch and held it beside himself, with one end on the floor. It was slightly taller than him. /"That should give me the reach I need."/ He thought as he inspected his work. With a nod he set it back down and started looking for sandpaper. It was about time he smoothed down the surface and the ends of the staff to make it look proper. In a nearby tool drawer set he found several different sandpapers, of different granulations. Eero decided to take a rougher one and a lot smoother one with him. Soon enough, he evenly shaped out the staff with tlhe rough sandpaper and then polished it with the smoother sandpaper. The boy then sweeped the floor again, to keep the working environment clean. Eero took a look at the vine infusion. The water looked quite murky, but it probably could use a bit more time. While decorative carving was probably left for last, Eero wanted to make sure that he didn't mess with the staff that was infused with the essence of the vine. If he cut deep by mistake, he could just ruin all of the work he had done up until then.

The boy would sit down on the floor once more and carve simple swirls into the bo staff. He decided to make it so that they highlighted the natural purple veins inside the wood. It didn't take him too long to carve out what he wanted. He meant for it to be simple, afterall. Eero was no artist, that was the best he dared to do. The boy would stand up and sweep the floor for the third time. He would then inspect it again. Eero was quite satisfied with his work, so far. Now it was only matter of the vine infused water. /"Speaking of which.."/ He thought as he looked at the jug of the distilled water. The water was really dark, almost matching the colour of the vine insides. Eero thought that the colour was satisfactory enough and decided to prepare the long container. He gave it a quick wipe with a wet rag he found nearby and dunked it in a sink that was near the forge. The heat coming from it was quite intense, for Eero's liking. The boy then carefully poured the liquid of the jug, into the long container. He hoped that he had enough to dunk the bo staff into it and have it all covered. Eero would put aside the empty jug and then carefully lower the carved bo staff into the container. There was just enough of the liquid to cover it up. "Let's hope this works." The boy would mumble, as he slowly dragged the container to the side, so that nobody would trip over it. Then it was time to clean up. He cleaned the jug, pestle and mortar and returned the tools he had borrowed from the forge. Eero also threw away the trash that he had swept up previously. He would stretch his back. The hard part of the work was done. Now he only had to wait for the wood to take in the essence. It was probably high time he checked up on his guildmate, aswell. Eero would cautiously walk over to the actual forge part of the forge, as he didn't want to disturb any work in progress. "Hey, Leona! How is your work going along? I am pretty much done with mine." The boy would call out to his guildmate.

The boy came closer, when his guildmate asked him if he was proficient in running a forge. The answer was  simple - not at all. He used to work at an inn, not blacksmith's shop. But if there was something he could help with, he would do it. The Guild's staff made a surprise appearance. He handed Leona a book. Eero could only guess that it was a book about blacksmithing techniques and such. The boy thought that Leona looked like somebody who was at least somewhat familiar with forging weapons.

His guildmate then explicitely asked for his help with the forge. She wanted Eero to help with the forge, while she tended to the ingredients and took out the piece of the vine that he gave her. The boy was unsure of the exact effects that Leona wished for her weapon to have with the ingredients she possessed. He was intrigued, to say the least. "Of course I'll help out." Eero would agree to help and walk towards the forge, taking a spare apron that was nearby and putting it on. "But I'm no blacksmith, mind you." He would give Leona a fair warning and pick up a metal rod with which he stirred the scalding hot coal and other fuel that was already inside the forge, letting out a few sparks out, as the air helped to keep the flames going. "As long as you give me intructions, I should be able to follow them well enough, though. I think." The boy would continue. He wanted to help out his guildmate out, but on the other hand, he also didn't want to ruin her weapon. They could always try forging it again, but if the weapon would already have the ingredients fused into it, then failure at that point would create a great problem. "What do you need me to do?" Eero would ask Leona for further instructions. It was her weapon, afterall. He wouldn't do anything that would go against what she desired her weapon to be.

Eero did as Leona instructed and was attempting to melt down some of the old weapons he found laying about. He took a pair of heavy tongs that were near the forge and grabbed onto the melting metal. There was a vat of water and a vat of oil to quench the scalding metal. While he was no blacksmith, he had seen a blacksmith smith a blade before. Eero wasn't familiar with any techniques or procedures, but he remembered little tidbits. The boy decided to take out the melting metal with the tongs and place the half-melted clump onto an anvil. He would grab a hammer that was placed against the small pedestal upon which the anvil was placed. Eero made sure that the clump of metal and his hands were steady and swung the hammer against it. It made a lound clang and some sparks flew out. His borrowed apron protected him against those, though. Eero swung a few more times, giving the melted metal a bit more defined shape. It was very much far from a blade, but he managed to stretch it into a bit of length. He also managed to create a sort of a handle for the metal clump, so that it would be easier to interact with it inside the forge and on the anvil. Back into the flames the metal went, however, as its temperature lowered. Eero didn't want to crack the metal, so he had to keep it properly within high temperatures.

The heat coming from the forge was getting quite intense. Eero's fringe stuck to his forehead before of the sweat that was rolling down his face. "Should've grabbed some protective gear for my face." The boy would mumble to himself as he pulled out the metal clump again. He would swing the hammer a few more times and place it back into the forge to heat up. /"My arms feel sore already./" His scholarly arms were definitely not built for smithing duty. Since he was touching rather old tools and such, Eero's hands were dirty. But he didn't notice that, so when he wiped his forehead his hand left a black smear behind it, without Eero realising.

The boy wasn't paying attention to what his guildmate was doing, but she said that she was going to prepare the ingredients, so he figured that she did just that. Soon after Leona appeared, asking about the metal, saying that the vine was ready. Leona placed the very darkened vine upon a wooden block. "The metal is ready when you are." Eero would reply and take the metal out of the flames and placed it on the anvil. "I'm not sure if I should have, but I took the liberty of shaping the melted metal into a vaguely bladed shape." He would say, as he inspected the both sides of the shaped metal. "It's all yours." The boy would say take off his apron and hand it to Leona. "It's your weapon, afterall. I will still help out, of course." He would add. Two sets of hands were better than one.

Eero was glad that his prep work for Leona was helpful. She explained how she was supposed to use the vine he had given her and got to work. His guildmate put on gloves and started to give the metal more defined shape and edge. Leona then worked away on the metal and after she felt satisfied she queched it in water. Eero jumped aside when she did so, to avoid the water that spashed out because of the reaction. After that she set it on the anvil and placed the vine she had prepared earlier on it. It smelled just as bad as when Eero smushed his piece of the vine, maybe even more because of the nightshade. After a moment the vine dissolved and stained the blade black. Leona didn't too sure about what was happening, but after she consulted a nearby book she looked ecstatic. His guildmate gave the blade a finishing quench in the water and thanked him for his help. "Anytime, Leona. That's what guildmates do." The boy would say with a smile. "You finish polishing and decorating your blade and I will check up on my bo. I will see you later." Eero would wave to his guildmate and go over to where he had left this staff to marinate.

The container was exactly where he had left it, though it had a bit of liquid missing. Eero presumed that the wood absorbed a bit of it. The boy grabbed a nearby rag, to wipe the staff, when he would take it out. Carefully, he lifted the bo staff out of the metal container, liquid dripping from it. The boy swiftly wiped off the excess liquid and lifted up the staff. Since it was already dark before, it didn't look any different. The swirls that Eero carved in beforehand were thankfully intact. The boy swung the staff and he noticed it extend a little bit for a moment. "Seems like that was a success." He would mumble to himself. Soon after, faint, teal vines appeared from the staff and then disappeared. "Double success." He would say, happy with the results. The strength of the effects was still questionable, but the fact that his theory worked was an immense push forward for Eero. The boy would to himself and cleaned the metal container and the rest of the workplace that he had used. He was sure that he would sleep well that night.